Inside the PD: K'Tan soccer coach has no problem with ruling

Twitter was all aflutter Friday night over how Kecoughtan’s boys soccer team had been “robbed” at Gloucester. Until, that is, Warriors coach Frank Hughes stepped in: “KHS didn’t get robbed, rules are rules,” he tweeted. “Congrats to the Dukes.”

Call it the high road if you want, but Hughes is right. With lightning in the area, officials had no choice but to call the game at halftime. And by the NFHS soccer rule book, as long as one half is played, it’s an official game.

Gloucester 1, Kecoughtan 0. The only goal was by Jacob Allen, which came roughly 25 minutes in.

“It was just one of those days,” Hughes said. “Gloucester played well and got the goal they needed. It was a nice strike, though I think our keeper should have gotten it. But I thought they played really well and we were unlucky.

“Safety has to be first, and that’s the reason for the rule. Being way up in Gloucester with it getting late, I understood completely. I wasn’t upset about it. The Gloucester players were apologizing, but I told them, hey, it is what it is.”

Gloucester has SkyScan technology that detects lightning within a certain radius. Lightning had been spotted in the distance during the first half, but apparently it didn’t register. Dukes athletic director Jon Hatch said it looked to be heat lightning.

“Then at halftime, we started getting bolts, not just flashes,” Hatch said.

Kecoughtan (4-1 in the PD) fell into a tie with Gloucester for second place in the standings. Menchville (5-0) is alone in first place.